Ignoring any cost differences, are these two options now equal in theoretical longevity. Or are the newish, and apparently diminished, Welch mounts still better than Jaguar OEM ?

My mounts, shocks, and associated bushings were replaced by a previous owner @ approximately 114,000 miles. Now another 52,000 additional miles have been racked up. Judging by ride quality, ride height and visual inspection the upper mounts are still in remarkably good condition.


However. I know this state of grace won’t last forever. I’m aware of the ongoing efforts by forum members to manufacture a quality replacement, but for now I’d just like to have opinions on which product is going to last the longest, the Welch, or the OEM.


Z

 

In my personal experience driving on the surface of the moon, aka, Puertorican roads, the Welsh mounts are lasting about 11 months on average. The OE mount pancaked flat after about 10 years. I never tried aftermarket OEM-style mounts. My experience may be an outlier given the state of the roads in PR. However, recent adopters of the Welsh mounts are seeing their mounts fail just a few months after the warranty expires. Welsh seems content to leave it as-is instead of responding to the issue as their customers shed light on it for them. If they have the arrogance to believe they have the market monopoly on "upgraded mounts" even after they dropped the quality of their products, they are in for a shock once a better product appears. Word is already spreading about how the quality of their product has dropped and how they have treated customers who reach out to them.

 

I am leaning toward the genuine Jaguar mounts (OEM), as those currently in the car (genuine Jaguar parts) have lasted / are lasting a good long while.


Z

 

Below is my reasoning from an earlier discussion on this.

With the OEM part being about 3X the price of Welsh/URO for me that is a deal breaker. I would rather risk replacing them more often than spending that much up front in hopes they last 3X longer than the non-EOM.

I have replaced them 3 times so far over 70K miles and 7 years. Getting pretty good at it now.

 

Zray, go to thread #93 in my little efforts on the top shock mount and you will see the problem with Welsh.
The inner bushings were the consistency of melted tar and they had been out of the car for a long time.
Couple of other problems but you get the picture.

 

At this point I would not install either current OEM or current Welsh. OEM is both materially flawed and ridiculously overpriced, while Welsh's quality control has nosedived yet they continue to ignore it. Wayne's product should resolve this issue for all of us....

 

My original, from the original build, mounts lasted until 135K.
I have installed welsh units and plan on purchasing a set or two of Wayne's when he has them finished. When I install new shocks I'll pull the welsh units and sent them to wayne as their housing are useful.
If it was a choice between welsh and Jag oem I would go with Jag oem. I enjoy working on the car but not continually replacing the same items in short order.

wj

 

That would be a great solution, if my current Jag mounts can continue to hold up until Wayne’s product is available.

However they are on a daily driver with over 50,000 miles on them. After reading many postings relating the failures of this part, I suspect I’m driving on borrowed time.

Z

 

I suspect that road conditions are a major factor toward longevity. All it takes is one errant pothole or speedbump to ruin them.

Pretty sure that is what happened to me with my last set of Welsh ones. They just can't handle severe impacts and the center bushings fail.

 

How do I find-out about Wayne's product? Appears I am in need of replacing the Welsh mounts....again....

 

It's the thread titled "Top Shock Tower Issue".